1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an image display device and more specifically to a spacer installing method using a hand for gripping a long spacer in a method of manufacturing a flat panel display with a long spacer (atmospheric pressure support member) interposed between a pair of substrates (a face plate and a rear plate) that constitute a display panel.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
A conventional flat panel display has a pair of substrates (plates) composed of a face plate and a rear plate, and forms and displays an image by projecting electron beams, which are emitted from electron-emitting devices forming a matrix pattern on the rear plate side, at phosphors, which are formed on the face plate side. In this image display device, a space between the pair of plates is kept at a vacuum and therefore several long spacers are provided at regular intervals in order to support an atmospheric pressure applied to the plates.
Manufacture of this type of flat panel display, one with a plurality of long spacers interposed between a pair of plates, employs a method in which the long spacers are picked and installed one at a time in order to join the long spacers with high accuracy. In a different technical field, a method of simultaneously gripping plural objects with an array of hands for a given work (e.g., transporting and boxing plural objects at once) has been disclosed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H07-6142, for example).
The technique of the prior art example, which uses object gripping hands to grip plural objects simultaneously for a given work, is unfit to be used in manufacture of a flat panel display as the one described in the above since it is difficult for the technique to meet the following requirements:
1) Both ends of a long spacer, which is a long, pliant object, are gripped.
2) The long spacer is given a certain level of tension.
3) The hands on both end sides of the long spacer conform to irregularities of a surface on which the long spacer is to be placed.
4) A load that is in contact with the surface on which the long spacer is to be placed is necessarily minimized.
5) A plurality of hands that meet the above requirements 1) through 4) are lined up to simultaneously grip a plurality of long spacers and install the long spacers at once with high accuracy (in a pitch direction).
The object gripping hands of the above-described prior art example fall short of satisfying the above requirements, and it is particularly difficult for the conventional hands to meet the requirement 5) concerning high precision installation.